AG Brown sues the Trump administration for imposing illegal conditions on funds used to support victims of crime

SEATTLE – Attorney General Nick Brown today joined 19 states and the District of Columbia in suing the Trump administration for attempting to block access to more than $1 billion that Congress intended to go to victims and survivors of crimes under the Victims of Crime Act.

The administration threatens to withhold the funds unless states agree to unlawfully imposed immigration enforcement requirements on congressionally authorized grants for victims—jeopardizing more than $34 million slated for Washington programs in fiscal year 2025.

“Nothing is safe from the Trump administration’s political attacks—including funds to help people at their most vulnerable, after they’ve survived a crime,” Brown said. “As Attorney General, public safety is one of my top priorities, and that includes ensuring the federal government makes good on its obligations to crime victims.”

The Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) was enacted in 1984 by President Ronald Reagan, creating a series of grant programs to enable states to provide critical resources and services to victims and survivors of crime as they try to restore normalcy in their lives. The programs fund such things as victim and witness advocacy services, emergency shelter, medical, funeral, and burial expenses, crime scene cleanup, sexual assault forensic exams, and much more.

These funding streams—totaling more than $1 billion a year nationwide—have long ensured that states could fulfill their most fundamental duties to protect public safety and redress harm to their residents. States use these funds to assist nearly 9 million crime victims per year and to provide compensation for more than 200,000 victims’ claims per year.

In Washington, the grants in jeopardy include an anticipated award of $29.2 million for fiscal year 2025 to support emergency shelters, mental health services, child advocacy groups, and organizations for victims of domestic violence, sexual violence, and human trafficking. Loss of the funds will likely require cuts to these and other services.

Also at risk is $4.8 million slated for Washington in fiscal year 2025 to provide benefits directly to crime victims. The money helps victims with everything from medical expenses for injuries resulting from criminal acts to grief counseling and burial expenses.

Congress has required the distribution of nearly all VOCA funding to states based on fixed statutory formulas and has repeatedly acted to ensure sufficient funding for crime victims, including after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

However, the Trump administration, through the U.S. Department of Justice, has declared that states and the victims and survivors they serve will be blocked from these funds unless they comply with the administration’s political agenda.

This directive conflicts with core principles of American governance—the separation of powers, and federalism. As such, Brown and the coalition are requesting the court permanently enjoin the Trump administration from implementing or enforcing these illegal conditions.

Brown joins New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin, California Attorney General Rob Bonta, Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, and Rhode Island Attorney General Peter F. Neronha, and the attorneys general of Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Hawai‘i, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont, and Wisconsin in filing this lawsuit.

A copy of the complaint is available here.

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